Advances in Ecological Research 

About: Advances in Ecological Research is an academic journal published by Elsevier BV. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Population & Ecosystem. It has an ISSN identifier of 0065-2504. Over the lifetime, 394 publications have been published receiving 66477 citations. The journal is also known as: Adv. Ecol. Res..

Ecology of Coarse Woody Debris in Temperate Ecosystems

Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the rates at which Coarse Woody Debris (CWD) is added and removed from ecosystems, the biomass found in streams and forests, and many functions that CWD serves. CWD is an important component of temperate stream and forest ecosystems and is added to the ecosystem by numerous mechanisms, including wind, fire, insect attack, pathogens, competition, and geomorphic processes. Many factors control the rate at which CWD decomposes, including temperature, moisture, the internal gas composition of CWD, substrate quality, the size of the CWD, and the types of organisms involved. The mass of CWD in an ecosystem ideally represents the balance between addition and loss. In reality, slow decomposition rates and erratic variations in input of CWD cause the CWD mass to deviate markedly from steady-state projections. Many differences correspond to forest type, with deciduous-dominated systems having generally lower biomass than conifer-dominated systems. Stream size also influences CWD mass in lotic ecosystems, while successional stage dramatically influences CWD mass in boat aquatic and terrestrial settings. This chapter reviews many of these functions and concludes that CWD is an important functional component of stream and forest ecosystems. Better scientific understanding of these functions and the natural factors influencing CWD dynamics should lead to more enlightened management practices.

The Mineral Nutrition of Wild Plants Revisited: A Re-evaluation of Processes and Patterns

Abstract: Publisher Summary In this chapter, the advances that have been made in understanding the ecology of the mineral nutrition of wild plants from terrestrial ecosystems have been reviewed. This chapter is organized along three lines. First, the issues of nutrient-limited plant growth and nutrient uptake, with special emphasis on the importance of the uptake of nutrients in organic form—both by mycorrhizal and by non-mycorrhizal plants—and the importance of symbiotic nitrogen fixation is treated. In addition, the influence of allocation patterns on mineral nutrient uptake is described. Next, a few of the nutritional aspects of leaf functioning and how nutrients are used for biomass production by the plant are explored. That is done by studying the nutrient use efficiency (NUE) of plants and the various components of NUE. Finally, the feedback of plant species to soil nutrient availability by reviewing patterns in litter decomposition and nutrient mineralization is investigated. The chapter concludes with a synthesis of the various aspects of the mineral nutrition of wild plants. The chapter ends with a conceptual description of plant strategies with respect to mineral nutrition.

A Theory of Gradient Analysis

Abstract: Publisher Summary This chapter concerns data analysis techniques that assist the interpretation of community composition in terms of species' responses to environmental gradients in the broadest sense. All species occur in a characteristic, limited range of habitats; and within their range, they tend to be most abundant around their particular environmental optimum. The composition of biotic communities thus changes along environmental gradients. Direct gradient analysis is a regression problem—fitting curves or surfaces to the relation between each species' abundance, probability of occurrence, and one or more environmental variables. Ecologists have independently developed a variety of alternative techniques. Many of these techniques are essentially heuristic, and have a less secure theoretical basis. This chapter presents a theory of gradient analysis, in which the heuristic techniques are integrated with regression, calibration, ordination and constrained ordination as distinct, well-defined statistical problems. The various techniques used for each type of problem are classified in families according to their implicit response model and the method used to estimate parameters of the model. Three such families are considered. The treatment shown here unites such apparently disparate data analysis techniques as linear regression, principal components analysis, redundancy analysis, Gaussian ordination, weighted averaging, reciprocal averaging, detrended correspondence analysis, and canonical correspondence analysis in a single theoretical framework.

Temperature and Organism Size—A Biological Law for Ectotherms?

Abstract: A tool changer is disclosed for automatically removing a working tool after having been used from the spindle of a machine tool such as a vertical milling machine, transferring the used working tool to a rack which stores a plurality of working tools, picking up from the rack another working tool for the next machining operation, transferring such new working tool to the spindle, and operatively mounting such new working tool on the spindle.

Estimates of the annual net carbon and water exchange of forests: the EUROFLUX methodology

Abstract: Publisher Summary The chapter has described the measurement system and the procedure followed for the computation of the fluxes and the procedure of flux summation, including data gap filling strategy, night flux corrections and error estimation. It begins with the introduction of estimates of the annual net carbon and water exchange of forests using the EUROFLUX methodology. The chapter then provides us with the theory and moves on to discuss the eddy covariance system and its sonic anemometer, temperature fluctuation measurements, infrared gas analyser, air transport system, and tower instrumentation. Additional measurements are also given in the chapter. Data acquisition and its computation and correction is discussed next in the chapter by giving its general procedure, half-hourly means (co-)variances and uncorrected fluxes, intercomparison of software, and correction for frequency response losses. The chapter has also discussed about quality control and four criteria are investigated here for the same. Spatial representativeness of measured fluxes and summation procedure are reviewed. The chapter then moves on to the discussion of data gap filling through interpolation and parameterization and neural networks. Corrections to night-time data and error estimation are also explored in the chapter. Finally, the chapter closes with conclusions.